the world puzzle newsletter 19 web.pdfthe world puzzle newsletter 19 official publication of the...

THE WORLD PUZZLENEWSLETTER 19

Official publication of the World Puzzle Federation

91The 22nd WPC and the 8th WSC in China I Report on the 15th General Assembly I WSC 2013 and WPC 2013 Results I WSC and WPC Puzzles I Hungary - 10 0 Years

- 100 Crosswords I Slovakia - Juniors‘ Trace I WPF Sudoku / Puzzle GP I Team

Photos I WPF Members

2 WPF Newsletter 19 – 2014

The World Puzzle Federation is an association of legal bodies with an interest of puzzles. Only one member per country can belong to the WPF.The WPF follows the Olympic standard in what constitutes a country.

Address: Kovařovicova 9, 616 00 Brno Czech RepublicTel: +420 608 889 635E-mail: [email protected]: www.worldpuzzle.org

The WORLD PUZZLE FEDERATION NEWSLETTEROfficial publication of the World Puzzle FederationEditor: Hana KoudelkováDesign: Cieauge P‘RellCopy Editor: Vítězslav Koudelka, Martin MěšťánekWPF Logo Design: Michael DoumaPrinting: CTP tisk, spol. s.r.o.

Chairman: Will Shortz (USA)Treasurer: Jaanus Laidna (Estonia)

Board Members: Vítězslav Koudelka (Czech Republic)

György István (Hungary)Alan O’Donnell (UK)

Chen Cen (China)Director: Hana Koudelková (Czech Republic)

ConTenTS 3 Editorial 4 The 22nd WPC and the 8th WSC in Bejing by Chen Cen 7 Report on the 15th General Assembly of the WPF by W. Shortz, H. Koudelková11 WSC Individual Results14 WSC Team Results15 WPC Team Results16 WPC Individual Results19 The 23rd WPC and the 9th WSC in London, United Kingdom20 WSC Puzzles22 WPC Puzzles24 Hungary – 100 Years - 100 Crosswords by György István26 Slovakia – Juniors’ Trace in Slovakia by Matúš Demiger29 WPF GP30 Team Photos36 WPF Members39 Solutions

3WPF Newsletter 19 – 2014

edIToRIAlneWSleTTeR 19/ 2014

Since last year’s newsletter a lot of good things have happened in the World Puzzle Federation, including a highly professional, beautifully run, well-attended World Sudoku Championship/World Puzzle Championship in China. over 200 puzzlers from 26 countries competed in the combined 2013 tournaments, held in Beijing’s elegant Chateau laffitte Hotel. The competition was covered on local and national TV, as well as in other media — altogether a massive audience. It was probably the largest coverage ever for a WPF event. last year’s new Sudoku GP, an international competition sponsored by the WPF and conducted online, at no cost to players, attracted over 1,500 sudoku enthusiasts worldwide. This year there is an expanded version. Also this year the WPF is holding its first Puzzle GP, featuring WPC-style puzzles, also online and free. At last count 1,500 players from 64 countries were taking part. Very soon we’ll be meeting in london in person for the 9th annual WSC and 23rd WPC, for what promises to be an exciting week in puzzling. everything in the WPF is overseen by our patient, hard-working, capable director, Hana Koudelkova, now in her third year in office, for whom we express our appreciation. In other news, plans are underway for the 1st World *Junior* Sudoku Championship, to be held in China in 2015. This new event should help introduce quality puzzles to another, young generation of puzzlers. Thanks to everyone for participating. Incidentally, you can take the first letter of each paragraph in this message to get my two-word wish to you for every puzzle you try..

Will ShortzChairman, WPF

WPF Newsletter 19 – 20144

22nd WPC And 8TH WSC

Between october 12th and 18th2013, Beijing, an ancient and modern city, was historically lit up by Geniuses. The 8th World Sudoku Championship and 22nd World Puzzle Championship were held successfully at Changping district of Beijing. These were unforgettable days for the initiators, including Beijing Media network (BMn), Beijing olympic City development Foundation, Beijing Sports Federation, the People’s Government of Changping district, Beijing Municipality and Beijing Sudoku Association, as well as sponsors committed to the project. For me, after taking part in all championships since 2009 as a Sudoku solver, finally I engaged myself in hosting a world-class competition and serving contestants from different countries. I felt greatly proud of it! The event was historic in several respects: it was the largest ever in the history of WSC and WPC; the first WSC held in China and the first WPC in Asia; the WPF flag was established. The event also included the first time flag-raising ceremony and flag handover ceremony of the WSC and WPC (famous Chinese folk song Jasmine Flowers was selected as the accompanying music of the rising of the flag), and the successful multinational puzzle design team. I hope the participants loved these creative ideas and

have great memories about them. looking back, the days of preparing the championships were full of good luck and challenges, as well as happiness and joy. We got down to the preparative work soon after we returned from Croatia, where we were authorized to host the championships. our job started from puzzle designs. Five people, who had experience of being involved also in Beijing International Sudoku Tournament, were responsible for designing the Sudoku puzzles Since we had hosted two tournaments before, as chief designer I eagerly hoped to make some breakthrough in the puzzles to refresh the solvers. In addition, the puzzles were supposed to feature Chinese elements, which Mr György István, Chairman of the Hungarian Puzzlers’ Association couldn’t agree more. I designed Mahjong puzzles for Sudoku group competitions, just like the 4 solvers were playing Chinese Mahjong. It’s well known that Mahjong was very popular in the country, and it seemed the players had lots of interest and fun solving Mahjong puzzles. For the puzzle competitions, thanks should be given to the Hungarian team who included the map of China in the design, hoping the solvers learn more on Chinese geography and further fall in love with the country.

2013, GenIUSeS lIGHT UP BeIJInGby Chen Cen



As puzzle competitions are still in their infancy in China, we had the great honor of receiving assistance from György István and Zoltán németh. György visited Beijing in March 2013. during his tour, we joined together to work out the competition schedule, inspect the venues, and discuss the tourism arrangements, catering service and many other things. Talking about puzzle design, Zoltán and I worked together delightfully with high efficiency. They threw themselves into the job soon after their arrival and made tremendous efforts for a successful WPC. We had been doing our best to help the overseas participants handle the visa procedures. We were excited to get the application from a nigerian player Godwin Bassey, who would have been the first African player in the history of the sudoku championships. Unfortunately, his visa application fell through. Although we tried several times to contact the embassy, it didn’t work. This might be my biggest pity before the event. As for sponsorship, the championships won great support of funds and goods from private sectors including Heilongjiang Zhongmeng Tianlong Forest Foods Company limited, Beijing Capital Agribusiness Group, educational organization Speiyou, Shanghai Medici Industrial Corporation limited, to name but a few. The greatest excitement was that Chinese elements were presented throughout the whole event. In ancient times, a drum was beaten to command the army and announce the start and end of a war to give orders and enhance morale when advancing, which was called Jigu erjin. drum beating was also used to indicate a

temporary cease-fire when retreating, which was called Mingjin shoubing. At the opening and closing ceremonies, a drum was beaten to demonstrate the start and finish of the event; it was also used to mark the beginning and end of daily competitions. Puzzle designs also featured Chinese elements, such as Mahjong puzzles and special puzzles and jigsaws in the form of Chinese characters. In the mean time, to help participants better understand Chinese culture, the organizers arranged various performances and activities for the awards ceremony on october 19. Such performances included a segment from the Beijing opera The drunken Beauty; Sichuan opera Bianlian (Face-Changing); a friendly mahjong match; and a screening of local movie Chinese Zodiac. All brought great cultural experience to the international players whilst demonstrating the charm of Chinese culture. It was a pity that we couldn’t take the Sudoku players to Ming Tomb as was originally arranged, due to the roads being blocked out for the road bicycle race called Tour of Beijing. We owed the success to our two-year experience in hosting Beijing Sudoku Tournament, as well as a large team, an unparalleled advantage we had. Besides 15 BMn staff as the core team, we had 15

Mahjong puzzle



volunteer english teachers from Speiyou providing service to the players. Meanwhile, we got 45 referees, 20 involved in Sudoku scoring and 25 puzzle scoring after they had been trained by the Hungarian team. All working staff was passionately devoted to the event and in return, they earned friendship, joy and great sense of achievement. last but not least, we had received amazing governmental supports to ensure a smooth run of the event. The biggest challenge came in the for of the live broadcast of the Sudoku finals. BMn tried twice to broadcast the Sudoku finals of the tournaments, but pre-recorded,

not live. This time, the Sudoku semi-final and final would be broadcast live. To guarantee a smooth run of the competitions with no interference on the players, the producers had worked out several plans to take care of all details. We also prepared as much background information about the finalists as possible to allow Chinese audience to have more knowledge on the top players.

The TV broadcast received positive feedback from the audience. Thousands of millions of Chinese learned about Sudoku by enjoying the intensive but exciting competitions. We sorted out plenty of talented teenage players of both Sudoku and puzzle, the greatest harvest we had. That enhances our confidence in developing the Sudoku and puzzle sports among Chinese youth. At the WPF Plenary Conference on october 17, Beijing won the bid to host the World Junior Sudoku Championship in 2015, the third time this event to be held in the country. Although Sudoku has been gaining popularity in europe and US for many years,

it can be traced down to more than 4,000 years ago when Chinese ancestors worked on some similar puzzles. The successful conclusion of 2013 WSC and WPC verified that China is capable of hosting a world-class wisdom event. let’s look forward to Beijing in the year of 2015, lit up by geniuses again!

Beijing Chateau Laffitte Hotel


RePoRT on THe 15th GeneRAl ASSeMBlY oF THe WPF by Will Shortz and Hana Koudelková

15TH GA RePoRT

oPenInG

The meeting was called to order on october 16 by the WPF chairman Will Shortz. Sessions were held in the morning and afternoon on both oct. 16 and 17. There were also an open General Assem-bly session on the evening of oct. 16, at which all the contestants could take part. The board members present were Will Shortz (Chairman, USA), Jaanus laid-na (Treasurer, eST), György István (HUn), and Vítězslav Koudelka (CZe). Apolo-gies received from Alan o‘donnell (GBR) and Hana Koudelková (WPF director). There was a presentation of each WPF mem-ber. The countries present were USA (also voting for Turkey), Hungary (also voting for Romania), estonia (also voting for Finland), Czech Republic (also voting for Uruguay), Korea, China (also voting for Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei), Poland, Slovakia (also voting for Russia), Germany (also voting for Switzerland), Croatia (also voting for Serbia), Japan, netherlands, Greece, Italy, and United Kingdom (also voting for Canada).

RePoRTS

The first point of the meeting was the approval of the 2013 GA Agenda. Györ-gy proposed to change the order of points

and to postpone the presentations of the board candidates to the next day. The vote was 12 in favour and 7. The proposal passed. The minutes of the 2012 General Assembly were approved as printed in the WPF newsletter 18. The financial reports were presented by Vítězslav Koudelka on behalf of Hana Kou-delková (WPF director). Vítězslav explai-ned the connection between the PayPal account and the official WPF account and the exchange rate conversion. The reports were approved with no objection.

CAndIdATeS FoR HoSTInG WSC/WPC 2014/2015

2014 United Kingdom

There was a presentation done by Kenne-th Wilshire, member of the UKPA team via Skype.

2015 HoST

There was no candidate for 2015 championships. Will asked all the present WPF members to speak about their current situation and potential hosting of the championships: The financial situation was put forward as the main reason preventing


from hosting the championships. In conclusion all the members were asked to discuss this topic with their teams again and present their offers by March 31, 2014.

WPF SUDOKU/PUZZLE GP

The members discussed the future of the WPF online GP tournament. Vítězslav summarized the results of the survey sent to all the members.

All the questions and answers can be found at http://www.worldpuzzle.org/archive/general-assembly-minutes/minutes-2013/

The same topics as presentred in the sur-vey were discussed at the GA meeting Mike Colloby (UK) confirmed they have man-aged to find new people and new puzzlers thanks to the GP. Other countries had the same experience. According to his opinion the income from the GP might have been used for the hosts of the WSC/WPC, but on the other side it would reduce the attendance. György proposed to prepare two leagues – one for newcomers with the majority of clas-sic sudoku and the second one for top players. Christos Apostolidis (GRE) suggested having the first round of the tournament be free and the next rounds paid. Mr. Xu (CHN) pro-posed to have the first three years be free. As for the hosting site, Mike preferred having the tournaments be on the sites of the WPF members. Hans Eendebak (NED) preferred having the whole competition on the WPF site, so that we can better control it. György asked about the cost of the new WPF event site. Vítězslav said that the cost will be about 500 EUR. The vote was 20 in favour of hav-ing the GP on the WPF site and 1 against. The WPF GP was also discussed during the evening session. The majority of players were in favour of having the tournament be free. On the second day of the GA, a vote was held on whether to have a GP play-

off during the championships or not. 15 votes were in favour and 6 against. In conclusion, the 2014 GP (Sudoku and Puz-zle) will be free. The two events will be held on the WPF site. There will be two sudoku leagues (for beginners and advanced) and one puzzle tournament. A newly formed players’ committee will help with select-ing the host countries and determining the number of rounds. There will be GP playoffs during the championships.

FINANCIAL AID FOR PARTICIPANTS

This year the WPF provided financial aid to countries that asked for it. Jaanus Laidna presented his idea to support only newco-mers in the future if they ask for help. The amount should be half of the participation fee. This was not decided yet.

FORMAT OF THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Members debated the format of the champi-onships – keeping the WSC/WPC combined or separating the two events. The discussion was postponed to the open session. The gre-at majority of members at the GA preferred to keep the current format.

15TH GA REPORT

WPF board


WPF ANTHEM

As the WPF has a new flag, Vítězslav propo-sed having a WPF anthem as well. As only his offering was played and no other proposals were given, it was decided that a new anthem competition should be opened for the pub-lic. The conditions are that the anthem can-not conflict with any copyrights can not be longer than two minutes and should have a short version as well.

GA MEETINGS

The best time to hold GA meetings was dis-cussed. Will said that evenings should be time to socialize, and for captains to speak with their teams in preparation for the next day’s competition. Also captains should speak with their team members and repre-sent them at the GA meetings. In past years there have been some captains competing that could not take part at the meetings. Vítězslav suggested to keep this year‘s for-mat, i.e. to have one evening open session where everybody can take part. Hans sug-gested to start the meetings the first WSC day so that there is some spare time for a potential extra meeting. Mr. Xu proposed having everything sorted out in advance and to use the GA meeting only for voting.

ASSOCIATION WITH OTHER MIND SPORT ORGANISATIONS

Hana confirmed that to enter associations like the IMSA, at least 45 national federations are required, and the WPF does not have this many members yet. Members were asked to contact their puzzle-loving friends from nonmember countries and to offer them individual WPF memberships.

RULES OF CONTEST AND HOSTING

The WPF does not have any official, writ-ten document that can be used by future WSC/WPC hosts. This would be very use-ful for future candidates. This point was postponed to the evening GA session. A players’ committee was formed consi-sting of the following: Thomas Snyder (USA), Wei-Hwa Huang (USA), Serkan Yurekli (TUR), Zoltan Nemeth (HUN), and Chen Cen (CHN). This committee will prepare a WPF gui-debook.

WPF CONTEST DIRECTOR

This WPF-appointed person should liaise with the upcoming hosts, offering advice and checking on progress and finances. This person will report back regularly to the board on the state of progress, highlighting any problems. Vítězslav proposed letting the WPF director do this job based on the gui-delines provided by the committee. It was accepted.

WPF DIRECTOR

The complete job description was read by Will. The WPF Sudoku/Puzzle GP was added to the director’s duties and also the role of contest director as described above. All the members were asked what are they expecting from this position, what they were missing, and what should be changed. Hans mentioned he would appreciate immediate info about important news related to the WPF. György would prefer more frequent regular updates to the members than once a quarter.

WORLD JUNIOR SUDOKU CHAMPIONSHIP

The Chinese team proposed to the WPF to start organising a World Junior Sudoku Championship for players 18 and under from 2015. They also proposed being the

15TH GA REPORT


15TH GA REPORT

permanent host for the event. The WPF members mentioned there could be finan-cial problems for the players to travel to China. There were proposals to call this the China Junior Sudoku Open and not a World Championship, but the Chinese delegation insisted on the name WJSC due to sponsors‘ requirements. The discussi-on was moved to the open GA session. The majority agreed that it was a good idea, but was concerned that it wouldn‘t attract enough players outside of Asia. There were mixed feelings about hosting the event by one country only. The next day the vote was 21 in favour of letting China organi-se the WJSC. The next vote was about the number of years when China can host the junior championship. The vote was 12 in favour of keeping it in China for 3 years, 8 were against.

PRESENTATIONS AND ELECTIONS OF THE BOARD MEMBERS

This year there were two open positions – Will‘s and György‘s. The candidates for this position before the GA were Will Shortz and Chen Cen (CHN). The second day, before the presentations, György added his name. Will turned the meeting over to Vítězslav to conduct the debate and vote. All three candidates made presentations. After a break Vítězslav, based on suggestions from some WPF members, offered an option to have six board members instead of five. This was approved 20-1. All the candidates were elected to be WPF board members for three years.

MISCELLANEOUS

Yuhei Kusui (JPN) gave an informative upda-te on the Japanese puzzle world. He told the members about the Japanese Puzzle and Sudoku championships, how they planned

to revive the Japanese Puzzle Federation, and thereby achieve their vision – to spread puzzle culture over Japan. He also mentio-ned that one of their biggest goals was to host the world championship in Japan in the not-too-distant future. To achieve this goal, strong support by various companies and organizations will be very important.

CLOSING

Will Shortz thanked the whole Chinese team for the perfectly prepared champion-ships, the Hungarian team for a great job with the complete set of puzzles for the WPC, and Hana for her work during the year. There being no further business, the mee-ting was closed on October 17.

WPF flag during the opening ceremony


WSC 2013 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS


WSC 2013 TEAM RESULTS

China - 1st place at the WSC


WPC 2013 TEAM RESULTS

USA - 1st place at the WPC


WPC 2013 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS



Top three players - WPC WPC winner - Ulrich Voigt


Official web page: www.uk2014.orgVENUE: Selsdon Park Hotel & Golf Club, Croydon, London

Participation Fee:

WSC Player: 320 GBP (4 nights)WSC Guest: 360 GBP (4 nights)WPC Player: 390 GBP (5 nights) WPC Guest: 440 GBP (5 nights)WSC and WPC Player: 530 GBP ( 7 nights)WSC and WPC Guest: 600 GBP (7 nights)

23RD WORLD PUZZLE CHAMPIONSHIP 9TH WORLD SUDOKU CHAMPIONSHIP

10 - 17 AUGUST 2014

On behalf of the UK Puzzle Association, we would like to invite you for the puzzle highlight of the year 2014 - World Puzzle Championship and

World Sudoku Championship.


Ring Sudoku

Fill in the grid with digits 0 through 9 so that digits do not repeat in each ring, each sector between two adjacent thick lines, or each pair of opposite sectors along the same diameter.

Consecutive Sudoku

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. All cells adjacent to 1 must be filled with composite numbers.

Mathdoku

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. Numbers between cells indicate the LAST DIGIT of the result of applying a binary operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) between the two adjacent numbers. All four binary operations must be used once in each box.

WSC PUZZLES


Cell Outside Sudoku:

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. Digits given outside the grid represent some of the digits in the first 6 cells encountered in that row/column in the corresponding direction, with the same order as given.

Anti-Knight-and-Queen Sudoku

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3×3 box contains the digits 1-7 as well as characters N and Q. Character N’s are not chess-knight-move connected. Character Q’s cannot repeat along any diagonal line.

Big Neighbor Sudoku

Fill in the grid so that every row, column, and 3×3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. For each cell labeled with a diamond, digits in its corners represent all digits in the four adjacent (top, bottom, left, and right) cells that are larger than the digit in the focal cell.

WSC PUZZLES


WPC PUZZLES

00

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

00

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0

0

0

00

0

0

0

0

44

4444

4 4

4 4

4 4

4 4

44

6666666666

6666666666

Yajilin(Pal Madarássy)Shade some white cells black so that each number indicates how many blackened cells are in the indicated direction. Black cells cannot share an edge. The remaining white cells must all be connected to form a single closed loop without intersecting or overlapping with itself.

Thermometers(Zoltán Németh)Fill in all, some or none of each thermometer so that numbers outside the grid indicate how many cells are filled in that row/column. Each thermometer is filled from the bulb upwards, it is not allowed to have empty cells between two filled cells in any thermometer.

Graffiti Snake(Zoltán Horváth)Find a snake in the grid whose body consists of horizontal and vertical segments. The snake never touches itself, not even diagonally. The head and tail of the snake are given. Numbers outside the grid indicie the sizes of consecutive blocks in that row/column that are not occupied by the snake. Numbers are given in the order the blocks appear in that row/column, first number describes the closest block.


Digital Sum Skyscrapers(Gyula Slenker)Enter digits 1-5 into the grid so that no digit repeats in any row or column. Some cells may remain empty. Each digit in the grid represents the height of a building and the digital clues on the outside of the grid indicie the sum of the heights of buildings that can be „seen“ when looking from that direction. Some of the digital clues’s segments are given, and the number of digit placeholders correctly corresponds to the number of digits of the actual clue (e.g. one digit if at most 9; two digits if at least 10). Taller buildings block smaller ones from being seen. The digit “1”, wherever it appears, occupies the right hand side of its placeholder.

WPC PUZZLES

Monkey Galaxies(Zoltán Németh)Divide the grid along the indicated lines into connected regions („galaxies“) with rotational symmetry. Each cell must belong to one galaxy, and each galaxy must have exactly one circle at its center of rotational symmetry.


The first Hungarian crossword was published in Budapest on 22 January 1925, and on 21 December 2013 more than 150 participants took part in a special crossword championship in Budapest, held to celebrate the First Crossword in the World. Based on this great memorial day let me bethink on the different crossword stlyes of the world. The Hungarian Puzzlers’ Association (ROE) had 20 crossword championships during the last year, but the most exciting event was held just before Christmas, where the participants got an opportunity to solve as much as they can from 100 puzzles during the 3-hour championship. Of course none of them was able to solve such a great amount of puzzles, but at the end of the day they got all the 100 puzzles and had the opportunity to solve the rest at home. There was a wide selection of crosswords from the easiest style (like Word-

Fit, Arrows - also known as Clues-in-Squares, Grid-Jig, Classic-style crossword) through some world-wide known variations (like Cryptic, Diagramless) all the way up to some master-level puzzles with mixed clues. It’s interesting to examine how the crossword developed in different countries. Most of the readers probably can recognise a US or UK-style crossword from its grid and clues style. While the classic-style and Arrows crosswords is popular in most of the countries of the world, in Hungary there’s some special variation designed specially for

higher-level solvers. The most loved theme is called as ‘Italian Style’ (while there’s actually no exactly same Italian-style crossword...), where the puzzle grid is divided into two parts with a continual thick lines, which (and also the black squares) should be discovered by the solver. It’s also worth mentioning how the crosswords-editor make the puzzles difficult? In UK/US mainly the short or the cryptic style of the clues makes the crosswords harder. In Hungary we use the same style of the clues for most of the puzzles, but in one or in both directions the clues are mixed, and only some letters are given in the grid in advance to help the solvers start. The most difficult ones are the mixed-clues Italian style puzzles, with only a few letters given... But of course in Hungary there are not just (crazy?) tough variations of

100 YEARS - 100 CROSSWORDS by György István

HUNGARY


crosswords, but some easy styles, too. For instance we have had a variation of the Word-Fit puzzles for many decades, where there are a few more extra words listed, and finally the puzzlers can order the unused words to find out the punchline of a joke. There’s also a great innovation in Hungary: we are using bends in order to fit longer words (or often a quote or a part of a verse) into a puzzle grid. At the end of the grid the horizontal answer continues vertically (or vice versa). Some of you might ask yourself,

why the crosswords should be interesting for the WPF Newslettter? While the WPF declares that on the WPCs there are only non-culture related puzzles, we should not totally ban the 100-year-old idea, the classic crosswords, from the WPCs. There are lots of variations (of course with given words to fit) which can be solved without any language-advantage. I hope the upcoming organiser will discover (again) the crossword-theme puzzles for the further WPCs.

HUNGARY


Slovak youth has left a significant mark at nine World Sudoku Championships. Ján Farkaš, the chairman of the Slovak puzzlers‘ and riddlers‘ association and the long-standing captain of the Slovak team, speaks about the journey of Slovak youngsters.

What was the first stimulus to bring Slovak youth to Sudoku?When Riccardo Albini came up with the idea to organize the first World Sudoku Championship, he was presenting the Sudoku as a puzzle which does not know any borders. There are neither language barriers nor age limits for Sudoku solvers. Eight-year child or 70-year old senior can solve it without problems. Like many other countries in that time we developed the idea to organize a national championship which took place for the first time in 2007. We were pleasantly surprised by the great number of children and teenagers who participated. A 5-year old child took part in it despite the fact that she had not started attending school yet. Nevertheless, she already knew how to work the numbers.

It was decided to have an Under-15 category at the 2nd Slovak championship. I remember it well as I reached 15 years of age the same year and therefore could not participate any more We wanted to set a limit at 15 years when

children change leave their elementary schools for the secondary ones. 2 600 invitations were sent to schools which contributed to the fact that 35% of the participants belonged to the Under-15 category. Six children were even younger than eight years. The children were solving the same puzzles as the adults and after the preliminary rounds the best 30 of them advanced to the Junior play-off which was won by Zuzana Hromcová, then 11-year old and now a successful member of the national team. But it was not only her, five other youngsters made it to the national team in the coming years.

Next year WSC 2009 was held in Žilina and 3-member youth team already participated in it. When did this idea occur to you for the first time?We have always had good experience with young talents. Milan Šatka won the Slovak logic puzzles championship when he was 17 and, to our surprise, he was masterfully the best contestant from the Slovak team at the WPC. Peter Hudák first participated in the WPC when he was 19 and Matúš Demiger started while being 16-year old. And we are talking about logic puzzles. On top of that, the Sudoku puzzles (especially the classic one), are very simple and attractive even for small children. At the 2009 WSC we wanted to give the youth an opportunity to get a taste of the

JUNIORS‘ TRACE IN SLOVAKIAby Matúš Demiger

SLOVAKIA


WSC atmosphere. However risky it was, it was definitely worth it. We did not know if this experience would motivate or discourage them. The Under-15 category was also held at the 2009 Slovak Sudoku championship and 51 youngsters participated. Six or seven were selected and invited to the qualification tournament. Some of them did very well and ranked even higher than several adult contestants. Therefore we nominated a Junior team for the WSC as well (Zuzana Hromcová – 14, Jaroslav Grajciar – 14 and Michaela Bieliková – 13 years old).

They did so well, they ranked on 28th position out of 46 teams. There were no big expectations. Together with the coach Blanka Lehotská we were preparing them for the fact that they might end up the in the last place. Apart from the 28th place in the team competition, the ranking of Zuzana Hromcová was very interesting as well. She beat even Tiit Vunk who is today one of the best solvers in the world. The Chinese team was also interested in this opportunity and they came with only 10-year-old Xiong Tianbo. Our youngsters could thus compare themselves also with foreign participant.

What happened to the Junior team after the WSC?Right after the WSC they became the members of the K1Z club led by Blanka Lehotská, and thus joined several other national team members. K1Z organizes regular meetings with young talents and national team members. Three above-mentioned youngsters participated in the Slovak team Sudoku championship in 2010 and won the third place among all other teams. Our friends from Turkey continued with the idea of youngsters‘ participation and thanks to them we could bring also both girls to the WPC 2009 in Antalya. In my opinion, this was even more useful experience for them because it was their first opportunity how to solve puzzles with English instructions. They did not know many of the types of puzzles since this was also their first experience with logic puzzles as such. Poland confirmed that this is a good way and they gave the opportunity to their own youngsters at the WPC one year later. This trend stopped for some time and that‘s why our teenagers had to qualify for the national team in the same way as the other competitors. They succeeded well and 18-year old Matej Uher took part in 2011 WPC in Eger and 15-year old Eva Branišová participated in the 2012 WSC in Kraljevica. Michaela and Zuzana had already been a stable part of the national team.

How to attract youth to the competitions and to avoid the situation that their first participation is not also their last?In 2007 we started to organize open tournaments called „For everybody“ and we had a problem to distinguish between „I want to be in the national team“ and „Play for fun“/“I love classics only“ competitors. Therefore we followed the example of Slovak riddlers and divided the contests into two parts. More experienced competitors solve puzzles like those in the world championship or worldwide internet contests and „B group“ solves simpler and less complicated puzzles.

SLOVAKIA

2009 - Trainer Blanka Lehotská and Zuzana Hromcová


New faces appeared after the successful project „Youth league“ organized by Katarína Hromcová (Zuzana‘s mom) with the support from the Ministry of Education. Almost 300 pupils participated in this project and the best were invited for the puzzle camp with the best Slovak solvers as their mentors.There are very successful tournaments in Bratislava and Bytča with 80-100 participants and here the best solvers in „Under-12“ category are awarded too. Despite all, the biggest challenge for the youngsters is to beat their parents or older siblings. There are many such contests in the „B“ category and continuously the youngsters move on to the „A“ category.

In 2013 the Slovak juniors were so interested in going to China that it sometimes appeared more difficult to make it into the B-team than to the official A-team.World championship in Beijing was a wonderful opportunity for our youth to fully show their talents. It was the first time that the „Under-18“ competitors were awarded and this was a great motivation. Zuzana Hromcová finished 13th in the WSC among all solvers and at the WPC she brought home a precious medal together with her

teammate Jakub Bahyl. Michaela Bieliková ended up in 4th place, just a few points behind the podium.

This year all successful youngsters will not be „juniors“ any more. What will the work with new talents look like in the coming years? These three solvers will not be able to compete in the „junior“ category but this is an opportunity for new talents. There are many of those around. However, it is sad that they do not have motivation to fight for medals at the world championship because the decision was made to divide the junior and senior competition. I think that every country needs new successors and the idea to have „Under-18“ category within the world championships is great for all. Therefore we do not find the idea to organize the world junior championship at one place very good. It is nevertheless not a reason for us to end the support of the youth, just the opposite. There is a vision to organize junior championships within the four countries of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). But that is another story…

SLOVAKIA

2013 - Young sudoku solvers meeting


WPF GRAND PRIX 2013 and 2014by Tom Collyer and Hana Koudelková

WPF GP

2013 On the evening of Monday 14th October 2013, the inaugural WPF Sudoku Grand Prix came to a thrilling climax as Kota Morinishi of Japan claimed victory in the play-off in the stunning setting of the Chateau Laffitte hotel. Second place went to Tiit Vunk of Estonia, with Jakub Ondroušek of the Czech Republic rounding out the podium in third place. Each of the 10 finalists received a certificate of achie-

vement, as well as a prize of 100 EUR. The play-off featured 8 beautifully crafted puzzles, one for each of the online rounds, with each of the organising teams contributing their favourite Sudoku variation. The amassed audience were able to solve the puzzles at the same time as the finalists, and were kept informed and entertained with commentary from Byron Calver and Tom Collyer.The GP organisers would like to thank the Chinese team led by Xue Mei Geng for all their help on the ground, Vítězslav Koudelka for his help with the finals, each of the eight orga-nising teams for putting together a wonderful set of puzzles, as well as Elena Aivazopoulou, Helen Arnold, Stefano Forcolin, Gerald Gan, Swaroop Guggilam, Rajesh Kumar, Yuhei Kusui, Bram de Laat, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Prasanna Seshadri for their help with refereeing.

2014 The official web page of the WPF Sudoku/Puzzle Grand Prix 2014 was launched - www.gp.worldpuzzle.org. After a very successful first tournament last year, the World Puzzle Federation is hosting the 2nd WPF online Sudoku event and the 1st WPF online puzzle event. The top level of these tournaments is guaranteed by the appointed Direc-tors responsible for the right selection of puzzles, testing

and judging. The WPF GP Directors are Thomas Snyder (USA) for Sudoku GP and Wei-Hwa Huang (USA) for Puzzle GP. There are 7 Sudoku rounds and 6 Puzzle rounds. Only top six results (Sudoku GP) and five results (Puzzle GP) for each solver will be included in the final WPF Grand Prix ranking. The format of the tournament is paper-solving with transcription of solutions and each round will be open during the whole weekend. The length of each round will be 90 minutes.


TEAM PHOTOS

Austria: Verena Kaiser

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Dragan Tolomanoski

Canada: (from left) Dave Baines, Anil Pophali, Byron Calver, Sheila Duke, Jarett Prouse, David Jones, Diana Smith, Carolyn Duke, Aaron Chan, Elgin Duke, Jerry Weir

Croatia: (from left) Klara Živković, Mario Živković, Marta Živković, Lucija Živković, Dino Janković, Luka Živković, Petar Štambuk, Pero Galogaža, Sanda Reić Tomaš, Luka Pavičić, Zrinka Kokot, Valter Kvalić, Goran Vodopija, Goran Suton, Dina Suton, Manuel Ukota

Czech Republic: (from left) Pavel Kadlečík, Jakub Ondroušek, Jana Vodičková, Zdeněk Vodička, Jan Novotný, Vítězslav Koudelka, Jana Břízová, Jakub Hrazdira, Robert Babilon, Klára Vytisková

China: (from left) Ma Menglei, Sun Cheran, Liang Yue, Qiu Yanzhe, Tian Jian, Gui Yong, Chen Nuo


Denmark: Henning Kalsgaard Poulsen

TEAM PHOTOS

Estonia: (from left) Taavi Piller, Jaanus Laidna, Külli Laks Vahemäe, Jaan Laks, Tiit Vunk, Regina Vunk, Helica Kivi, Mihkel Lõhmus, Ragnar Kruberg

Finland: (from left) Jouni Juhani Särkijärvi, Ulla Elsilä, Jaakko Kangasharju

France: (from left) Timothy Doyle, Olivier Rubio, Sylvain Caudmont, Jean-Christophe Novelli, Bastien Vial-Jaime, Olivier Garçonnet, Frédérique Rogeaux

Germany: (from left) Rosa Susen, Isabelle Gall, Maria Graber, Martin Merker, Kerstin Wöge, Sebastian Matschke, Nils Miehe, Hubert Wagner, Ulrich Voigt, Stefan Heine, Michael Ley, Johannes Susen, Michael Smit, Christoph Seeliger, Georg Schröter, Robert Vollmert

Greece: (from left) Elena Aivazopoulou, Christos Apostolidis, Iliana Gounalaki, Vasso Kalaitzidou


Italy: (from left) Alida Cernogoraz, Stefano Forcolin, Giulia Franceschini, Donatella Bellini

Korea: (from left) SeongHwa Hong, HwangRae Lee, SeungJae Kwak(Captain), John Park(Guest), MinYoung Joo

Luxembourgh:Claudine Thiry

TEAM PHOTOS

India: (from left) Prasanna Venkatesh Seshadri, Rajesh Kumar, Swaroop Guggilam, Rohan Rao, Rishi Puri, Amit Sowani, Jaipal Reddy

Japan: (from left) Yuta Nagata, Ken Endo, Tetsuya Nishio, Takeya Saikachi, Keisui Okuma, Ko Okamoto, Yuhei Kusui, Takuya Sugimoto, Takeshi Kawasaki, Kota Morinishi, Maho Yokota, Hideaki Jo, Yuka Noyama

Hungary: (from left) Zoltán Csorba, Anita Ludányi, Gerda Nádor, Tamás Csizmazia


Netherlands: (from left) Bram de Laat, Hans Eendebak, Yuk Yee Au, René Gilhuijs, Richard Stolk

Poland: (from left) Jacek Kozicki, Paweł Rachel, Jan Mrozowski, Agnieszka Buczma, Przemysław Dębiak, Paweł Kępczyński, Łukasz Kalinowski, Tomasz Stróżak

Serbia: (from left) Zoran Tanasić, Čedomir Milanović, Marko Obradović, Nikola Živanović

Singapore: Gabriel Gan Rong De, Godfrey Gan Yi De, Gerald Gan Shi Seng, Ang Siew Hong

Slovakia: (from left) Matej Uher, Pavel Jaselský, Štefan Gašpár, Ján Farkaš, Peter HudákStanding Matúš Demiger, Zuzana Hromcová, Richard Hromec, Michalea Bieliková, Ivana Štiptová, Miroslav Ondrejka, Blanka Lehotská, Jakub Bahyl, Michal Hudák

TEAM PHOTOS

Russia: (from left) Sergei Biriukov, Riad Khanmagomedov, Vladislav Klyachin, Natalia Lemesh, Andrey Lemesh, Diana Paskhina, Sitting Aleksei Oleshov, Ivan Laptiev


Spain: (from left) David Castillo Igea, Olga Diaz Switzerland: (from left) Esther Naef, Markus Roth, Christof Brütsch, Frederic Stalder

Thailand: (from left) Oracha Isarangkoon Na Ayuthaya, Supachai Thongsawang, Poramet Yosamornsuntorn, Peerawit Tanapiched, Wichayet Saejung, Sinchai Rungsangrattanakul, Chayanan Kittiteerathamrong, Sasithorn Aanonsathaporn,

Turkey: (from left) Salih Alan, Ahmet Alan, Serkan Yürekli, Hatice Esra Aydemir, Mehmet Murat Sevim

United Kingdom: (from left) Tom Collyer, Anthea McMillan, Helen Arnold (AUS), Heather Golding, James McGowan, Liane Robinson, Thomas Powell, Neil Zussman, Mike Colloby

USA: (from left) Jonathan Rivet, Thomas Snyder, Chris Narrikkattu, Wei-Hwa Huang, Palmer Mebane, Nick Baxter, Will Blatt, Joshua Zucker

TEAM PHOTOS


All participants

TEAM PHOTOS


ARGENTINAJuegos & Co. S.R.L

Contact Person:Mr. Juan Poniachik

Mailing Address:Av. Corrientes 1312, 8vo “22”, Capital Federal (1043)Buenos AiresArgentina

Phone: +54-11-4371-1825E-mail: [email protected]

BANGLADESHDaily Prothom Alo

Contact Person:A B M Jabed Sultan Pias

Mailing Address:Daily Prothom Alo, CA Bhaban 100 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue Karwanbazar, Tejgaon, Dhaka 1215Bangladesh

Phone: +880-1716179289 +88-02-8110081, ext.: 2102E-mail: [email protected]@prothom-alo.info

BULGARIAMensa – Bulgaria

Contact Person:Mr. Deyan Razsadov, Vice-chairman

Mailing Address:Mensa - Bulgaria c-x Levski-G bl.31 entr.A apt.32 Sofia Bulgaria

Phone: +359.88.8640970E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.mensa.bg/

CANADACPP - Canadian Puzzle Party

Contact Person: Mr. Dave Baines

Mailing Address: 1905 Tweed Ave Ottawa On CanadaK1G2L8

Phone: 613 736-7914Email: [email protected]

CHINABeijing Media Network

Contact Person:Mr. Jin Peng, General Manager of Beijing Beiguang Xinxin Communication Co. Mr. George Xingcun Wang, Foreign Advisor

Mailing Address:14, Jianguomenwai Street Chaoyang District Beijing 100022 The People‘s Republic of China

Phone: +86.13381111209 (Mr Peng Jin, China)Fax: +44.2089770236 (Mr. George Wang, UK)E-mail: Mr Peng Jin: [email protected] Mr. George Wang: [email protected] Ms. May Geng: [email protected]

CHINESE TAIPEITaiwan Sudoku Association

Contact Person: Mr. Oddest Wu, President

Mailing Address:No.2, Ln. 11, Sec. 3, Zhongshan Rd., Hukou Township Hsinchu County 303 Chinese Taipei

Phone: +88635991030E-mail: [email protected]

CROATIAHrvatski Zagonetacki Savez (Croatian Puzzle Federation)

Contact Person: Mr. Pero Galogaza, President

Mailing Address:FENIKS, Pero Galogaza Hrvatski Zagonetacki Savez Zvonimirova 20 A 51000 Rijeka Croatia

Phone: +38.551650105Fax: +38.551672114E-mail: [email protected]

CZECH REPUBLICHráčská asociace logických her a sudoku, o.s. (HALAS)

Contact Person:Mr. Vítězslav Koudelka – Delegate to WPF, captain of representation Mr. Karel Tesař – Chairman

Mailing Address:Cihlářská 649/32 602 00 Brno Czech Republic

Phone:Mr. Vítězslav Koudelka: +420 724 859 006 Mr. Karel Tesař: +420 777 107 200E-mail:Mr. Vítězslav Koudelka: [email protected] Mr. Karel Tesař: [email protected]: http://www.sudokualogika.cz/

ESTONIAAs Kuma

Contact Person:Mr. Jaanus Laidna, Editor-in-chief crossword magazines

Mailing Address:Pärnu tn 57 72712 Paide Estonia

Phone: +372.383.8829Fax: +372.383.8806E-mail: [email protected]

FINLANDSuomen puzzle-harrastajat Ahaa! (Finnish Puzzle Association Ahaa!)

Contact Person: Mr. Juha Hyvönen

Mailing Address: Ahaa ry. Juha Hyvönen Soidintie 12 B 13 FIN-00700 Helsinki Finland

Phone: +358-50-518 7919E-mail: [email protected]

WPF MEMBERS


FRANCEFederation Francaise des Jeux Mathematiques (French Federation of Mathematical Games)

Contact Person:Mr. Michel Criton, president Mr.Jean-Christophe Novelli, responsible for WPC-WSC

Mailing Address:8 rue Bouilloux-Lafont 75015 Paris France

Phone: +33 143083688Fax: +33 972110552E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

GERMANYLogic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Contact Person: Mr. Ulrich Voigt, Chairman

Mailing Address: Kronenstr. 5 79100 Freiburg Germany

Phone: +49.761.2852009E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.logic-masters.de/

GREECEMensa Greece

Contact Person: Mr. Christos Apostolidis, Chairman

Mailing Address: Lekka str. 12 Athens 10562 Greece

Phone: +30 2109243193 +30 6932392445Fax: +30 2105239074E-mail: [email protected]

HUNGARYRejtvényfejtõk Országos Egyesülete (Hungarian Puzzlers‘ Association)

Contact Person: Mr. György István, Chairman

Mailing Address: H-1083 Budapest

Prater utca 56. 2/12. Hungary

Phone: +36-30-9342-173E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.roe.ini.hu/

INDIALogic Masters India

Contact Person:Mr. Amit Sowani

Mailing Address:#6, Maruthi Homes, Patel Enclave, JJ Nagar Post, Yapral, Secunderabad 500 094 Andhra Pradesh, India

Phone: +91 9008422744E-mail: [email protected]

ITALYnonzero srl

Contact Person: Mr. Alberto Rossetti

Mailing Address:Viale Sondrio 7 20124 Milano Italy

Phone: +39 0277428091Fax: +39 0276340836E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.nonzero.it

JAPANJapan Puzzle Federation

Contact Person: Mr. Koki Oshida, Editor

Mailing Address: 4 - 2 - 29 Kudan-kita Chiyoda-ku 102-8187 Tokyo Japan

Phone: +81.3.3262.5125Fax: +81.3.3262.5330E-mail: [email protected]

KOREAPuzzleland Co.

Contact Person: Mr. J. B. Park, Director

Mailing Address:3Fl, Socrates Bldg, 1688-127 Haengun-dong

Kwanak-gu Seoul 151-050 Korea

Phone: 82.2.883.2071Fax: 82.2.883.0708E-mail: [email protected]

NETHERLANDSWCPN (World Class Puzzles from the Netherlands)

Contact Person: Mr. Hans Eendebak,

Mailing Address: Herenweg 211744 KC Sint MaartenThe Netherlands

Phone: +31 224 562629E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.wcpn.nl/

NIGERIAPuzzle Arena

Contact Person: Mr. Kolawole Isaac Abiodun

Mailing Address: Plot 11,Block 90 Naomi Thomas ClosePeace Valley Zone,Magodo GRA,Phase 2Shangisha,Ikeja LagosNigeria

Phone: +234 8033487707E-mail: [email protected]

PHILIPPINESMathematics Trainers‘ Guild, Philippines

Contact Person: Dr. Simon L. Chua, President

Mailing Address: c/o Zamboanga Chong Hua High School General Vicente Alvarez St 7000 Zamboanga City Philippines

Phone: +63.629923045 +63.9178472111Fax: +63.629923045E-mail: [email protected]

WPF MEMBERS


POLANDFundacja Rozwoju Matematyki Rekreacyjnej SFINKS

Contact Person: Agnieszka Buczma, Board member

Mailing Address: Włodarzewska 53/10 02-384 Warsaw Poland

Phone: +48 507 079 540E-mail: [email protected]

ROMANIAAsociatia „Logic Club“ Romania

Contact Person:Mr. Stelian-Radu Cacuci, President

Mailing Address:Str. Aluminei nr. 68, bl. B-4, sc. B, ap. 4 Oradea, jud. Bihor,cod 410313 Romania


RUSSIAPlanet of puzzlesIndividual entrepreneur Irina Novichkova

Contact Person:Mrs. Irina Novichkova, Director and Founder Andrey Bogdanov, Specialist of Public Relations

Mailing Address:Chelyabinskaya st. 23-2-260,105568 MoscowRussia

Phone: +7 499 308 5069E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.planetagolovolomok.ru

SERBIASavez zagonetaca Srbije (SZS)

Contact Person:Mr. Zoran Tanasić, President

Mailing Address:

Narodnog fronta 18 21000 Novi Sad Serbia


SLOVAKIASlovenský zväz hádankárova krížovkárov

Contact Person:Mr. Ján Farkaš, Chairman

Mailing Address: M. Dulu 34/74Martin 03608Slovakia

Phone: +421 902 264 247E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.szhk.sk/

SWITZERLANDSwiss Puzzle Federation

Contact Person:Mr. Markus Roth, President

Mailing Address:Niederweg 1d 8907 WettswilSwitzerland

Phone: +41 79 208 06 65E-mail:[email protected]

THAILANDThailand Crossword Game, A-Math, Kumkom, and Sudoku Association

Contact Person:Mr. Amnuay Ploysangnam, President

Mailing Address:631, 633, 635 Rama 3 Road Bangpongpang, Yannawa Bangkok 10120 ThailandPhone: +66.2.6819971Fax: +66.2.6819974E-mail: [email protected]:http://www.thaicrossword.com/

TURKEYAkıl Oyunları Ltd. Şti.

Contact Person:Mr. Kamer Alyanakyan, Managing Director

Mailing Address:Caferağa Mah. Arayıcıbaşı Sok. No:15/3 Kadıköy 34710 Istanbul Turkey

Phone: +90 (216) 450-3055 +90 (533) 560-3004Fax: +90 (216) 450-3053E-mail: [email protected]

UNITED KINGDOMUK Puzzle Association

Contact Person:Mr. Mike Colloby, Company Secretary

Mailing Address:Pine Cottage Chilsworthy Gunnislake Cornwall PL18 9PB United Kingdom

Phone: +44 1822834083E-mail:[email protected]: http://ukpuzzles.org/

URUGUAYGimnasio Mental TECA - Grupo Ingenio Uruguay

Contact Person:Mrs Débora Saviotti, Director

Mailing Address:San José 1413 - CP 11200Montevideo Uruguay

Phone: +598-99631874+598-2208-6519E-mail: [email protected]

USAU.S. Puzzle Championship

Contact Person:Mr. Will Shortz, Director

Mailing Address:Will Shortz 55 Great Oak Lane Pleasantville, NY 10570 U.S.A.

Phone: +1.914.769 9128E-mail: [email protected]

WPF MEMBERS


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9World Puzzle Federation Head Office

Kovařovicova 9, 616 00 BrnoCzech Republic

Tel: +420 608 889 635E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.worldpuzzle.org

the world puzzle newsletter 19 web.pdfthe world puzzle newsletter 19 official publication of the...

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